


Say Something

by SawyerDay



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Almost Drowning, F/M, Homophobic Language, John Winchester Being an Asshole, Kid Fic, M/M, Rating for later chapters, will update tags as i post chapters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-09
Updated: 2020-12-12
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:35:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27463543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SawyerDay/pseuds/SawyerDay
Summary: Dean Winchester goes to his family lake house every year and one year a new kid, Castiel, moves in next door. After an incident, Dean and Castiel start their friendship. We follow the two (Sam too) through their adolescent years, into their teenage years, and into their adult years.
Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester
Comments: 8
Kudos: 19





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I'm back! I hope you love this story as much as I do! 
> 
> This story will be posted as small glimpses into Dean and Castiel's friendship and will include letters. Chapters will be relatively short but may grow in length as I write. 
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> -Sawyer

Dean is 11 years old when he sees Castiel for the first time. He is walking along the edge of the lake, trying not to get his new shoes wet like his dad had asked when he sees something out of the corner of his eye. There's movement in the water. A duck, probably. He’s going to keep walking, but he hears a small cry and realizes it’s human and not a bird. He had promised to teach Sam how to swim this summer and had been putting it off. Dread fills his chest as he takes off down the beach. 

By the time Dean has made it to the end of the dock, he doesn't care that he's still wearing his shorts, socks, and new shoes. He takes a deep breath and launches himself into the water. As he gets closer to the person, he sees it’s not his brother. It’s the quiet boy from next door.

The boy is face down and not moving. Dean moves quickly to get his face out of the water. He wraps an arm around the boy and flips him over to get him on his back. Dean is careful to make sure his hand is firm across his chest with the boy’s head resting on his shoulder. He has to make sure to keep his face out of the water before starting to pull his lifeless body to the dock. 

“Dad!” He cries as water fills his mouth. He hopes that his voice is loud enough for someone to hear him and keeps pulling the kid towards the dock, kicking as hard as he can. They are moving so slowly he starts to realize he can’t hold the boy up. They are only a few feet from the dock when they both start to go under the water. In one last attempt not to let the kid drown, he shoves him as hard as he can towards the dock, but the force pushes himself under the water.

He’s now face down under the kid’s body pushing the kid as hard as he can, his lungs burning. The need for air is too much. His mouth opens and breathes in a mouthful of water. Before he loses consciousness he thinks he made it to the dock but he’s not sure. He doesn’t care as long as the kid is alright. 

Dean doesn’t know how long he’s been asleep or dead but he knows he’s sore and his throat burns. He opens his eyes and sees his dad leaning over the neighbor boy. He scans the shore and sees Sam standing at the end of the dock, his arms wrapped around one of the posts. What if it had been Sammy? What if he had been looking at his little brother’s lifeless body instead? The ache in his chest lessens at the sight of his still alive, still breathing, brother.

“Dean!” His father snaps, “Grab his head. Hold it steady.”

Dean pulls himself up onto his knees and slides himself over to the kid. His face is sickly white and his lips are blue. He carefully takes the boys chin in his hands and tips his head back to open up his airway. His dad blows one long breath into the boy and starts the compressions again. He tries his best not to be scared. 

“Castiel!” Dean’s gaze follows the length of the dock and sees the neighbor running up to them. The man stops a few feet away from the kid’s lifeless body and drops to his knees. Dean can’t quite make out what the man is saying but something tells him it’s a prayer. 

“Dean, focus.” His father’s words are harsh. Dean tips the kids head back again. His dad continues the compressions and Dean stares down at the kid’s face willing him to wake up. He starts to see movement behind the kid’s eyes and then they open. Dean’s hands drop to either side of the kid’s face and his whole world is now blue. A deep, sparkling ocean, blue. The bluest blue Dean has ever seen. Next, comes the kid’s breath and the coughing and vomiting. Dean carefully turns the kid’s head so the contents from his body will spill on the dock and not cause the kid to choke. John roughly shoves Dean to the side and lifts the boy by his shoulders. He places him in a sitting position, patting his back gently while he coughs. The neighbor is still mumbling, and Dean watches tears fall from his eyes. 

“I already called 911, they should be here shortly. Keep him warm,” Dean’s dad says and helps the boy over to the other man who takes the boy into his arms and covers his face in kisses. It makes Dean angry and he’s not quite sure why. 

“Thank you, John.” The man says and turns to leave. John nods in response and grabs Dean roughly by the shoulder and looks down at Dean’s feet. His new shoes are soaked and probably ruined. He looks up at his dad and bites the inside of his lip. He knows what’s going to happen and he can’t say he blames his dad for being mad at him. He shouldn’t have worn his new shoes and he should have taken them off before jumping into the water. 

“You might have saved me a lot of time if you would have run a little faster,” John says and Dean knows he’s right. He should have been faster. He could have been faster. 

“Yes, Sir,” Dean replies and looks to Sammy who’s still clinging to the pole at the end of the dock. 

His dad removes his hand from his shoulder and starts to walk away but stops and calls over his shoulder, “You’ll be paying me back for the shoes.” 

“Yes, Sir,” Dean replies and follows behind his dad. As he gets to the end of the dock, he takes Sam by the hand and leads him back to the house. 

"What happened?" Sam asks when they are safely in their bedroom. 

"That Cas kid fell in the water and I jumped in to save him. Wasn't fast enough though," Dean says as he takes off his wet clothes and changes into dry ones. He places his shoes in front of the window in the sun.

"I saw you and you were running fast, Dean. Did dad tell you that?" Sam asks with a smirk.

"Shut up," Dean says and ruffles Sam's hair. "Let's get something to eat and go for a walk."

The two boys decide to take their food to go. As they walk past Castiel's house, they see the boy sitting on the front steps. Dean waves but Castiel just sits there staring at them as they walk by. 

"Weird kid, right?" Sam asks. 

"Yeah. Weird kid." Dean replies. 


	2. Chapter 2

Dean likes taking long walks in the woods. He’s just made it past the line of trees when he hears a sound coming from behind him. Dean whips around his hand automatically goes to his hip where his pocket knife is sitting. He crouches down and stays as still as possible and waits. He scans the trees, but he sees nothing. He slowly stands and starts walking again. 

He knows someone is there behind him. He can feel them. He takes a few more normal steps and then dashes behind a big tree and waits. He stands there for a couple of minutes before he hears movement again. He peeks around the tree and sees Castiel standing in the middle of the path. Dean smiles and relaxes. 

“Gotcha!” Dean jumps out from behind the tree. Castiel falls to the ground covering his head. Dean can’t stop the laughter that erupts from his mouth. He walks over to the boy in the middle of his laughing fit and stands over him. The giggles quickly subside when the kid looks up at Dean with tears in his eyes. He kneels on the ground in front of the boy and reaches out a hand. Castiel shies away, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you that bad.”

Dean knows this motion. He’s done it enough times because of his father to know that someone has been hitting him. Dean pulls his hand back. The two boys sit there staring at each other for a few moments before Castiel stands up. There are still tears streaking his face. Dean wants to reach out and wipe them away from his face, the same as he does with Sammy, but he keeps his hands to himself. 

“Do you want to go on a walk with me?” Dean asks. Castiel’s eyes widen, then he nods. 

The two boys spend the rest of the afternoon walking around in the woods and throwing rocks into the lake. They don’t talk much and Dean’s okay with that, but he does have some questions. Where does Castiel come from? Why does he stare like that? Where is his mother? How old is he?

  
After an hour, Dean walks Castiel to his front steps and watches him go to the front door. Dean turns to leave but something stops him and he turns back. Castiel has now moved back to the top of the stairs.

“Thank you for walking with me,” He says and then quickly disappears into the dark house again. 

“You're welcome!” Dean calls out hoping that he heard him. Dean makes his way back to his own house and is greeted by an excited Sammy and a sleeping father who has twelve empty beer bottles on the table next to him. Dean stalks to the kitchen with Sammy close behind. 

“You hungry?” Dean doesn’t wait for Sam to answer; he starts pulling things from the cupboards to make mac and cheese. 

“Dean,” Sam asks, his voice quiet and low, “what’s a faggot?” Dean turns to face his brother in response and remembers the first time he had ever heard that word. He had been seven. He was playing with some kid who had two dads and some older kids were walking by who yelled the word at the kid. Dean’s not sure what it means entirely but he thinks it means gay and he also knows it’s not nice because the kid ran off crying. 

“It’s a bad word, Sammy. Where did you hear it?” Dean demands in a hushed tone. He doesn’t want to wake up his father and risk him hearing this conversation. 

“Dad said it. He said the neighbor boy was one.” Sam sat in a chair at the table as he spoke.

“Castiel? Nah, Sammy. Cas is cool.” Dean responds and goes back to cooking. Dean decides if Cas is a faggot, he doesn’t care.


	3. Chapter 3

Dean spends his time not with Castiel thinking about Castiel. He still doesn’t talk much, but they see each other almost every day. Summer is coming to a close. Dean knows he’s going to have to leave Castiel behind and go back to school. It makes him feel sad. Besides Sam, Castiel is practically his only other friend. Sure he has a few kids he likes back home, but they aren’t his friends. 

“Hey Cas,” Dean asks “have you ever had a best friend before?” Cas shakes his head. 

"Cool," Dean says. That means Dean can have the title. The two boys are sitting at the end of the dock. Castiel is staring off into the distance while Dean leans back onto his elbows with his feet dangling in the water. The sun is hanging in just the right spot and Dean feels relaxed and comfortable. He closes his eyes.

He cracks one eye open when he feels movement beside him. Cas is sitting over him with a look of deep concentration on his face. His hand slowly and softly moving over his face, his finger outstretched and touching Dean’s cheeks and forehead lightly. It’s not painful but it is a little weird.

“Cas?” Dean asks. 

“I’m counting,” That’s all Cas says and Dean closes his eyes again. He doesn’t get touches like this anymore. The touches he gets these days are too rough. He ignores the feeling that bubbles up in his belly and focuses on Cas’s light and gentle touches to his face. This is the first time Cas has touched him all summer. He feels like it should freak him out that someone other than his dad or Sammy is touching him, but it’s Cas, and Cas would never hurt him. 

The sun is beating down on Dean’s face and chest and he’s starting to feel too warm. He sits up and rolls onto his stomach. Once he’s comfortable again he hears an excited gasp from Cas next to him and he smiles to himself.

Dean isn’t sure how much time has passed when he wakes but he knows he has a sunburn. He slowly rolls himself off the dock and into the water to soothe his burning skin. He comes up for a breath and notices Cas is gone but there is a rock with a piece of paper pinned under it. He pulls himself up onto the dock and looks around before lifting it and picking up the piece of paper. It’s a note written in crayon.

**_Dean,_ **

**_752 freckles. Lost count after that. I will count again next year. Dad said I can give you my address. He said something about a pen pal. I don’t know what that is, but I think it’s a friend that you write to when you’re bored. So, I guess if you get bored you can write to me. See you next summer._ **

**_Castiel Novak_ **  
**_236 E Bumblebee Way_ **  
**_Crater Valley, WA 98362_ **

**_-Castiel_ **

Dean folds the paper and holds it tightly in his hand. He grabs his shoes and shirt and runs barefoot back to his house and puts the note safely in his duffle bag and if he takes it out later that night and memorizes it that’s for him to know and for no one to ever find out.

**Author's Note:**

> Tags will change as I post chapters.
> 
> Thoughts? Questions? Concerns?  
> Leave a comment or reach me at:  
> Sawyerday.tumblr.com  
> twitter.com/sawyerdaytweets


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